Thomson

It’s a heck of a way to run a pre-election campaign. On the eve of an expected election, politicians usually spend their time playing up good news, downplaying the bad, shaking hands and kissing babies.

Triple Dip: Hot chocolate the perfect drink for an Edmonton winter

While hot chocolate is widely seen as an essential tool for warming the belly in winter, it began its rich history more than 2,000 years ago as a cold drink in what is now Mexico and Central America. Imported to the New World by explorers, hot chocolate finds numerous expressions in Edmonton. Here are three places that make a specialty of this winter treat.

T.H.I.S. Place; 10382 105th St.; 780-722-5736

A new coffee shop by the same family that owns Lan’s Asian Grill on Alberta Avenue, T.H.I.S. Place has created a hot chocolate in the style of European sipping chocolate. It’s made from a solid cube of Belgian and Callebaut chocolate available in several different flavours (almond to salted caramel) fixed on the end of a Popsicle stick.

The barista takes eight to 10 ounces of hot milk and pours about half of it over the chocolate in a tall glass mug. The stick is stirred until the chocolate melts, and then the drink is topped up with the rest of the hot milk. It’s softly rich, and comes with whipped cream in a variety of flavours if you so choose, but I prefer it plain.

The price varies slightly depending on your chocolate choices, but rings in at between $3.50 and $4.75 a mug. You can buy the hot chocolate Popsicles in bulk at a reduced price and take them home to sip in solitude.

Enjoy a giant mug of full-fat milk and chocolate syrup topped with sprinkles and whipped cream for $4.20. While the hot chocolate is perfectly good, and generous, one is really paying to sit in a scruffy wingback chair as the sunshine spills through the window, and read. Remedy is charming in its disarray, and smells like samosas, always. The paint is chipped and scarred, but university students perched at the bar are clear and bright and unselfconsciously beautiful. Relax. Life is good.

Chef Brett Roy, who owns this chocolate boutique, pays homage to the Aztec emperor Moctezuma with his Haute Chocolate, sold in a container for home use. Spiked with chipotle, cinnamon and nutmeg, Roy’s concoction is made from 66 per cent Caribbean chocolate with silky floral notes.

The instructions call for a cup of milk and a half-cup of chocolate mixture, but Roy recommends trying it with water because the chocolate is so rich, it doesn’t need the milk fat to make it smooth and creamy. I agree with his recommendation, and I would also suggest cutting the serving size by half. More is less with this drink.

Haute Chocolate is $21, and you can get three giant servings, or six modest, perfect portions out of the container.

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